Happenings

It's been a while. Quite "interesting" two weeks in Texas bike racing. Did two in Crits in Denton and spent a good weekend at "home" in Ft. Worth. Results-wise it was pretty average as being "solo" and having field-sprint-esque courses/races did not suit me so well. Saturday's race was very cool and I tried hard to force a serious split but it came down to a - almost -field sprint. Sunday's race was much easier by looking at the numbers, even though 10 of us lapped the field. My old teammate Mat Stephens showed that he's still got the sprinter legs and won while I got 6th. Some great riding north of Denton, Horse County & surrounding area

A week later, a training ride to Johnson City was long overdue so I rode out West with a few THSJ guys and it was a pretty good ride. 5 1/2hrs, half of that in the rain, and just sub 120miles. The cool temperatures made the time/distance feel very manageable comparing to doing rides in the 100 F heat a few month back.

A few days later some news broke which were quite upsetting, disappointing. I felt cheated on. At the same time it's a 'positive' thing as it shows that guys get penalized who cheat; very knowingly cheat to be exact. Knowing I (and a handful of others) can ride faster than someone who is "juiced up" to the top makes the whole thing quite funny, actually. Why would you take stuff if you can't even beat the "clean" guys? Oh well.

The week finally turned back into a good one as the State RR was on the schedule. I had lots of fun and Kolt and I did our best. He was in the winning break for 94 miles, just the last few rollers got onto a few guys and the field caught Kolt, Lalla + Adam G. Six guys stayed away for the win (JT Cody!). I still scratch my head about some teams' tactics...If you're not in the break why not chase? Oh well, none of my business. Sunday's race was held on the same course, with similar temperatures, but with a bit rain and only 66miles. The turn-out was not as great as the day before but that made the race actually quite a bit harder in my opinion. After being in a 7-man break for most of the race I gave it one "shot" at the last climb and Helmig + Vargas came along. It was a mix of tactics, discussions, and strength which followed for the next 10miles to the finish. In the end, Helmig got me pretty good in the sprint for the win but 2nd was okay at that point. Even though we're both foreigners by passport, I got another blue-red-white jersey since I'm more of a permanent Texan...:-)

The next few month will actually be quite exciting rather than just another "boring" off-season: There's some Driveway left, a few punchy Cyclocross races, a trip Down Under, the local MTB race p/b Mellow Johnny's, and finally some "real" winter time back home in Germany.